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Robert Mark Kamen
Robert Mark Kamen is an American screenwriter, film producer and winemaker best known as creator and co-creator of The Karate Kid, Transporter and Taken franchises. He now produces wine from his vineyards near Sonoma, California. Early life Kamen was born in 1947. He grew up in the Bronx borough of New York City.Hartlaub, Peter, "Robert Mark Kamen established his roots in Hollywood. But his heart is in the hills of Sonoma, where he tends to his vineyard," San Francisco Chronicle, March 11, 2004. He graduated from New York University in 1969.CAS ALUMNI RELATIONS He received his Ph.D in American Studies from The University of Pennsylvania. Career Kamen is a frequent collaborator of French writer/director Luc Besson—his co-creator on The Fifth Element, The Transporter, and the Taken series of films. The two first worked together on the Natalie Portman and Jean Reno thriller The Professional. After the success of The Fifth Element, Besson invited Kamen to join him in his goal of creating a "mini-studio" in Europe, making "movies that would travel, international movies, you know, action movies."Gotshalk, Shira, "The Script Assassin", Writers Guild of America, February, 2009. The Karate Kid The Karate Kid is a semi-autobiographical story based on Kamen's life. In 1964 when Kamen was 17, he was beaten up by a gang of bullies after the 1964 New York World's Fair. He thus began to study martial arts in order to defend himself. Kamen was unhappy with his first teacher who taught martial arts as a tool for violence and revenge. So he moved on to study Okinawan Gōjū-ryū Karate under a teacher who did not speak English but himself was a student of Chōjun Miyagi. As a Hollywood screenwriter, Kamen was mentored by Frank Price who told him that producer Jerry Weintraub had optioned a news article about the young child of a single mother who had earned a black belt to defend himself against the neighborhood bullies. Kamen then combined his own life story with the news article and used both to create the screenplay for The Karate Kid. DC Comics had a character called Karate Kid. The filmmakers received special permission from DC Comics in 1984 to use the title for the first film (and consequent sequels). Vineyards In 1980, after being paid $135,000 for his first screenplay (which was never produced), Kamen used the check to buy 280 acres of rocky land on Mount Veeder in Sonoma County, California. He hired winegrower Phil Coturri to make 46 acres into a vineyard in 1981. In 1984, the first grapes were sold to local winemakers. The vineyard suffered a fire in 1996, destroying half the vineyard. Kamen replanted the vineyard, and in 1999 he bottled his first Kamen-branded wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon. In 2002, Kamen hired Mark Herold to craft his wines. Filmography References External links * *Writers Guild of America Interview with Kamen Category:Living people Category:New York University alumni Category:Film producers from New York (state) Category:American Jews Category:Television producers from New York City Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:American male screenwriters Category:People from the Bronx Category:Writers from New York City Category:1952 births Category:Screenwriters from New York (state) Category:The Karate Kid (franchise) Category:Transporter (franchise)